When I Died
by Kitsu Maxwell
Summary: I'd never been like other people. I was small, I was smart, and, when given the chance, I befriended a dragon rather than kill it. So of course, when I died, I couldn't just go to Valhalla like normal people. No, the moon had other plans for me. (Eventual HiJack... If I continue.)


**Disclaimer: I don't own any HTTYD or ROTG characters, plots, sub plots, concepts or anything to do with them really. If I did, then the main characters would most certainly have been gay. **

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><p>Waking up after dying was, perhaps, one of the strangest and most emotionally draining experiences I've had, and considering what my life had been like before that, that was really saying something. After all, what normal fourteen year old can boast of being the first to train a dragon and then go on to save, not only their entire village, but also an entire nest of dragons in an epic aerial battle against a monster the size of a mountain. Yeah. My life had been exciting. Not that I immediately recalled that when I woke up.<p>

I came to beneath a pile of leaves the colors of fire, the dry, earthy scent of decomposing plants filling my nose. I sat up stiffly, confusion at the forefront of my mind. What had happened? Where was I? My mind felt so muddled and foggy. Memories of how I had ended up here evaded me as I fought to pull them up. There was an awkward weight on my back, only drawing my notice as I moved to stand. Looking over my shoulder I found the source of that weight. Smooth black scales and leathery skin covered two large wings. It took me a moment to realize they were mine. They were attached to me and I could feel the unfamiliar muscles that moved them. My eyes were wide as I reached to touch them, feeling the chill of my own fingers against what was obviously a part of my own body. Had I had wings before? Given my amazement and the unfamiliarity I somehow doubted it.

I turned, trying to get a better veiw of them, which, in hind sight, wasn't very bright. They were attached to me, so of course they would move with me. The motion did, however, bring my attention to another obviously new appendage. I had a tail. It was long, thick, and covered in the same glossy black scales as my wings. There were two fins fanned out at the end and something in my mind told me that one of those fins should be missing. My brow furrowed in confusion at the thought, but before I could explore it any further my thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Hiccup." I jolted at the voice, my head jerking back and forth as I searched the immediate area for the speaker.

"Hiccup, you are the Spirit of Autumn." The voice called again, drawing my attention to the dimming sky where the moon hung low and full. For some reason I was more intrigued by the fact that I could see the moon already even though the sky was just dimming, the first stars not even seen yet as the sun sank behind the mountain, painting the world in golden hues. For some reason, that was more out of place to me than the fact that I could swear that voice was coming from the moon itself. Maybe it was my current lack of memory that was making me so accepting of such strange things as having wings and hearing the moon speak. For all I know these things could be normal. Something told me that wasn't right but the voice of the moon was calming, somehow instilling the feeling that everything was alright. The name, Hiccup, was familiar to me, just as familiar as my own skin. Was it my name? It felt right.

Suddenly, my sought after memories flooded my mind. It was a little jarring and the memories themselves were difficult to sort. Most of them were vague and far off, almost fuzzy, but the most recent memory, the one that I needed the most, was very vivid. I almost wish it wasn't.

I'd been flying with Toothless, my best friend and dragon, and Astrid with her own dragon, Stormfly. It had been a beautiful morning, warmer than usual for the season and slightly overcast. The air itself had seemed to be charged with energy as the two of us raced and had our dragons perform the tricks we had been teaching them. Astrid and I had a bit of a rivalry going; always trying to out do the other when it came to training our respective dragons. I always came out on top of course, but that never kept her from trying.

We hadn't been paying attention. Even Toothless and Stormfly seemed to have been having too much fun to notice what was happening. By the time I felt the worried rumble from Toothless the weather had already taken a dangerous turn. I'd shouted to Astrid, my voice straining to be heard over the wind that seemed to pick up speed with every second, and I could see it the moment she realized the danger we were in. She'd looked angry, though I knew it was more at herself for not having noticed the changing weather than anything else, and there was a trace of fear in there too. I'm sure I was wearing a very similar expression.

The storm had seemed to come out of no where and we were out over the ocean. Our dragons both gave a distressed cry as a bolt of lightening came down a bit too close for comfort. Our adrenaline surged at the near miss and Astrid and I quickly turned our dragons towards the island, knowing that if we could just get back to land that we would be much safer. After the incident with the dragon perches during last year's autumn, we knew that Thor, god of thunder, would always prefer to strike the highest thing in the sky. We also knew that Thor hated metal, so Toothless and I were very likely targets of his wrath with our metal prosthetics. If we could get to the island, then there would be other, more likely targets; far less mortal targets than a pair of teenage vikings who were foolish enough to fly around in a lightening storm.

We'd nearly made it. We were so close. A wave of premature relief had spread through me at the sight of our village, just before an immense pain I'd only ever felt once before tore through my admittedly small body. The memory becomes jumbled here. I recall Toothless crying out. I recall Astrid's desperate scream. I remember falling limply through the air, my dragon, my best friend, several feet away and trying futilely to right himself and get back over to me. I recall the ground drawing closer at an alarming speed. And then blackness.

The very next memory was waking up here. My gaze darted back up to the moon, my breathing picking up at the same rate as my heart. "What was that?! What's going on?! What happened?!" My shouted questions received no response. I could feel myself starting to shake, the quivering of my new limbs causing a disconcerted sickness to settle in my stomach.

"Please." I begged, my eyes beginning to feel wet. "Tell me what's happened. Where am I? Where's Toothless? And Astrid! What happened to her?" Again I was met with only silence.

"Say something!" I screamed, tears now flowing freely down my face. I wrapped my arms around myself, gripping my own shoulders tightly as though I could hold myself together by doing so. My legs gave out as a sob wracked my body, the answers to my questions not coming from the moon, but from my own deductive mind. I was a smart boy. I knew what had happened. I just didn't want to accept it. I knew, that if I had survived that crash, I would have woken in my room. Toothless would have been nearby and I would have stumbled out of my home to see the faces of my friends. They would have scolded me for scaring them, once again, and life would have continued on as normal. I would not have woken beneath a pile of leaves. I would not have these new draconic limbs. I would not have just had a conversation (if it could be called that) with the moon.

I had died. I was dead. The moon had called me a spirit, hadn't it? Spirits were dead weren't they?

I don't know how long I sat there and cried, rocking myself back and forth, screaming my pain into the silent forest around me as I held myself. I don't know how long I lamented my own death, calling out the names of my friends and father, apologizing to the wind as though it would carry the words to my loved ones, and praying to whatever gods that may be listening that this was all just some very bad dream. By the time my sobs had died down I felt numb. The sky was dark and the stars twinkled merrily in the sky along side the silent moon, almost seeming to mock my recent anguish. I had hurt a lot during my life. I had been put down, ignored, shunned, and pushed to the side. I had had to live with the knowledge that I was smaller, weaker, and therefore less of a viking than everyone else. I had had to live with the fact that I was a walking disappointment to everyone I knew. None of that quite compared, however, to the amount of hurt I was feeling now. Things had only just turned around two years ago. I had finally been accepted by the village! By my dad! I was finally starting to like myself, and now I was dead. The gods must hate me.

I continued to sit there and wallow in self pity for a while longer. At some point it occurred to me that my friends and father would probably yell at me for being so pathetic. It was enough to get me back up and on my feet. I may as well find out where I was at least. Was I even still on Berk? If I wasn't then where else could I be? Valhalla? Somehow, I didn't think so...

Sniffing a bit and wiping at my stinging eyes I stepped forward, away from the small, almost comforting nest of leaves I had awoken in. As my feet made contact with the grass it seemed to dry and go yellow. My eyes widened at the sight. I took a few more steps, just to be sure that first one hadn't been a fluke or a trick of the light. With every step I took another patch of vibrant green grass went pale in the bright moonlight. What was it the moon had said? Spirit of Autumn? That was me now? I could change the color of the grass? What else would I be able to do? My curiosity went into overdrive, giving me something to focus on besides the whole dying thing, and somewhere in there a realization came to me. I had a purpose. I was the spirit of Autumn. I may not be alive anymore, but I was needed. I wasn't useless. It wasn't much, but it was something to hold onto, and maybe, just maybe, that would be enough for now.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey. Yeah, I have no idea where I'm going with this. lol I just got this scene in my head and wanted to write it. I have a few ideas rattling around in my head right now, but no solid plot plans. If any of you have an idea or a suggestion then feel free to tell me in a message or a review! If I end up using your input I'll be sure to credit you for it. ^_^ Thanks for reading!<strong>


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